Possible to Sleep thru flight?

slumpainter

I'm flying across the Pacific towards India soon and not only hate flying because it is uncomfortable (I'm 6'3"!)but I'm neurotic and usually scared $hitless during any kind of turbulance...

Any tips on sleeping thru it all? Legal drugs to recommend for those that share similar reactions to 14 hours in a seat with their knees wedged under their chin? Any kind of activity? Tried meditation, tried getting drunk, even reading...

ba9rn

I use Melatonin, which is available over the counter in USA. I find it effective against jetlag, and it helps me sleep.

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SteamBuff

Speak to your Doctor about this, he/she should be able to give you something to help you relax or sleep.

Make sure the stewardess knows NOT to wake you. (Except for Food ???)

Also I prefer taking flights that leave in the evening, so you are getting tired anyway! (If you have a morning flight try not to get any sleep the night before)

crvlvr

I have a couple of glasses of wine and usually sleep 8 hours straight.

Given your height, you should get to the airport early and aim to get a seat with more leg room. check out seatguru.com for details of seat layouts. Which airlines are you flying. most of them them have seatback displays and so you can watch a couple of movies, if that is your thing.

tacita

although some swear by it, alcohol actually the worst thing you can ingest to help you rest/sleep:


It has been shown that alcohol interferes with normal sleep patterns by disrupting particular neurotransmitters in the brain which control or regulate sleep. When these neurotransmitters are disrupted, disturbances can result. Small amounts of alcohol can cause early sedation or sleepiness, and is often used as a sedative. However, the use of alcohol as an effective sedative can be extremely misleading because the side effects that can result are usually even more harmful and detrimental to the natural sleep cycle. For instance, due to the natural elimination of alcohol from the body, arousal and sleep fragmentation can occur and the second half of the sleep period can be drastically interrupted. This is due to the fact that, although alcohol will cause sedation, it will also decrease REM sleep in the first half of the night resulting in the rebound of REM sleep later in the night. When the rebounding of REM sleep occurs, it causes frequent awaking during the night, and suppression of REM sleep. Gene rally, with continued consumption, alcohol's sedative effects decrease and its disruptive effects remain the same or increase. (NIAA-Alcohol Alert, 1998; Oscar-Berman, 1997; NIAA -NIH guide, 07/02/01)

Alcohol can be associated with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which the upper air passage narrows or closes during sleep causing one to awake many times during the night gasping for air. Because of alcohol's depressant effects, the muscles of the upper air passage are affected, snoring is increased and sleep quality and total sleep time are reduced.
(quoted from: http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/AdMed/p...h-Insomnia.cfm)

your doctor can recommend prescription drugs that are right for you. for a long haul, i suggest you inquire of him/her about "ambien" and "lunesta," both sleep meds. for a shorter haul (say, 4-6 hours), a sleep med with a shorter half-life, like "sonata", is better. alternatively - or in addition - an anti-anxiety drug such as "klonopin" will help with the anxiety/fear, physical discomfort, and sleep.

i mention these based upon my OWN positive experiences with them. i am not a doctor and have no medical training. PLEASE speak to your own medical professional about these and other options.

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Ricco

Alcohol works for me.

I agree that it won't give you a full night's sleep. On a medium haul flight you wouldn't want a full night's sleep anyway; 5 or so hours of relative oblivion is preferable to the frustrating 'I'm so tired but can't get comfortable enough to sleep' alternative.

So I'll accept the first meal, put the headphones on, turn the music up loud, and enjoy half a dozen or so glasses of red wine.

It works for me.

Just make sure you have plenty of water at hand for when you wake up!

tacita

ricco, you're not sleeping, you're dead drunk! can't imagine that much alcohol makes the day after a productive travel day. plainly, you have a tolerance i do not! impressive!

dehydration at altitude is amplified...again, while some people (like ricco) swear by a few drinks on a flight, it's not doing you body any favors and makes it even harder to bounce back. despite the stigma of "drugs" to sleep, they are much less jolting to the system and generally won't cause the same dangerous dehydration.

if "wine-therapy" works for you - have at it! if not, do ask your doc about safe sleep aids or relaxants.

PeakXV

Preselect a couple of good books, strap on the headphones to the classical musical channel, have a couple of cold micro-brewed beers and get ready for the journey. Do you really want to sleep the whole way? They say the journey is half the fun! ..... chit-chat a bit ..... practice some hindi with the Indian passengers .... watch a movie you saw a few months ago ..... go up and have a coffee with the cute flight birds ...... speculate in your mind on what the heck the odd looking couple in row 12 are going to do in India ...... wonder why the heck your going to India for.

..... but if that doesn't work for you - go to your Doc and get some tranquilizer cum sleeping bombs!

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

Sama

there is a thread here somewhere about how sleeping thru a flight is Deep Vein Thrombosis waiting to happen....

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daverm18

Gravol works quite well for both my wife and I. Also, if you haven't bought your airline ticket yet, check out Eva air. For $100 more than regular seating, you get an 'evergreen class' seat which has a lot more leg room. At least it was last January. We flew out of Vancouver...don't know where else they fly out of.

kmalik

Janice -

See the recent FDA warning that applies to Sonata, Ambien and Lunesta for sure http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/1489
I guess the the bing eating / driving / sleepwalking are a lesser concern during the flight, but you don't want to be trying to walk out either...

PS: Melatonin is hit or miss. I've tried it multiple time and it did not have any effect. Others swear by it. I suspect Janice's advice is the best - warning notwithstanding.

somari

I too have a problem sleeping on long flights. But I found that couple of glasses of wine + glass of vodka, and I can easily knock off 5 hours sleeping peacefully

cyberhippie

Gave up alcohol on flights a long time ago. Sure I slept but on arrival I felt like crap!!

Films, music a book (guidebook?)..............Mela tonin is my new drug of choice for sleeping (I'm a very light sleeper) I used Valium (44 hours on a train with hardly any sleep wasn't a lot of fun) before but melatonin it seems suits me bettewr

nomad

does not work for me. i took 3-4 pegs (cant leave single malt for anyone else) in the night before the flight. slept for 3 hours. had two small sample pegs at airport. then 3 small pegs in first flight and two in the next.

most of the time i was staring outside the window or the TV in front of me.

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SteamBuff

Normally I don't drink alcohol on flights, for that matter for 12 hours before either.

But on my return from Calcutta, the flight was 7 Hours late, and when the drinks came around I asked for a whisky and I got 2 tumblers both half full.. must have been 6 shots in total.

I can remember flying over Delhi (After my meal) and then the next thing I can remember is flying over Denmark .... So it worked for me! normally I would not have slept as well! but then we did not take off till 8pm.

But will I drink next time .... Nope!